Speedometers On Buses

August 22, 1985

A spot check of about half of the Chicago Transit Authority`s bus fleet recently showed that nearly 80 percent have inoperative speedometers, undoubtedly the result of continuing cutbacks in the maintenance budgets that have brought on such familiar problems as nonfunctioning air-conditioners, bus shortages due to cracked bulkheads and flapping windows.

Apparently neither state law nor motor vehicle regulations require that speedometers on transit buses actually be in working order. The CTA, which has spent millions of dollars on an elaborate control system for its rapid transit lines to ensure that motormen don`t speed, apparently is unwilling to spend a fraction of that to keep bus speedometers operating.

Because the average speed of buses on Chicago`s streets is only 11.9 miles an hour, it would seem that speedometers are unnecessary. But that ignores the fact that the CTA`s buses are driven at considerably higher speeds on expressways and thoroughfares.

Common sense dictates that because CTA bus drivers are required to obey speed limits, they ought to have a reliable device with which to measure the speed of their vehicles.